


Beautiful Friendship

by JoMouse



Series: Tumblr Prompts [21]
Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Art Student Zayn, Boxer Liam, Former Boxer Liam, M/M, Meet-Cute, Student Zayn, Tumblr Prompt, University Student Zayn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-25
Updated: 2016-08-25
Packaged: 2018-08-10 21:41:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,062
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7862185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam comes home to see a boy hanging outside his window. His third story window. By his fingertips.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Beautiful Friendship

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: “You found me hanging by my fingertips from your window and i don’t want to tell you i was trying to rob you idk how else to explain this and i don’t want to go to jail and also you’re kind of cute we should make out when i’m not clinging onto your window ledge for my life” how funny would this be?? Can Zayn be the robber and Li be the robee please
> 
> Enjoy!
> 
> xx-Joey
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.

Liam let himself into his flat, arms full of groceries. He heard a noise from his bedroom. Freezing, he waited to see if he’d hear it again. After a long moment, Loki gave out a bark and came out of the bedroom, padding down towards him.

“Hey, boy,” Liam greeted, continuing to the kitchen, Loki following and jumping on his legs when Liam set the bags on the counter. He checked his mobile to see if he’d missed anything on the drive home from the store.

Liam set the phone on the counter before leaning down to rub at Loki’s head, surprised when the little pup nipped at his fingers and then ran off towards the bedroom. Shaking his head, Liam moved to grab the milk to put in the fridge. When he turned around, Loki was back, dancing in the doorway of the kitchen, little yips escaping. Liam put the milk away and reached for Loki; again, the dog nipped his fingers and took off running towards the bedroom.

Liam heard Loki start barking, followed by a quiet “shhh”. Eyebrows raised, Liam reached for one of the knives in the block on his counter, feeling like every stupid person in a horror movie ever made as he walked slowly down the hall towards his bedroom. He was a few steps away when he heard the window in his room slide open, followed by a bump and a yelp.

Liam hurried into his room, knife out in front of him, his mother’s voice a memory of  _ “Don’t run with knives” _ in his head. He glanced around his room, noticing it was empty except for him and Loki, who was by the window, paws up on the sill, loud barks interspersed with low growls. Approaching slowly, Liam heard a muttered, “Shit.”

When he reached the window, Liam saw the fingers first: white knuckled and digging into the bricks outside the sash. Liam leaned through the window to look down at the body attached to the fingers. Wide, hazel eyes looked back up at him. “Hello?” 

“Hey,” the boy said, his voice casual for someone who was hanging three stories above the ground.

“Er, is there a reason you’re hanging from my window?” Liam asked, his hand reaching into his pocket for his mobile, groaning when he realized he’d left it on the kitchen counter.

The boy didn’t answer right away, his hands scrambling to try to hang onto the edge. Liam wondered if the drop would kill him or just injure him. He debated going to the kitchen for his mobile to call the police but was afraid the kid would let himself back into the flat. He had no doubts he could take him in a fight, as long as he didn’t have a gun. He was still staring at the kid when he started to sing.

Liam’s eyebrows shot up as he made out the quiet words,  _ “Don’t leave me hangin’, I’m coming for you.” _

“Are you seriously singing Bastille to me?” Liam asked, chuckling at bit at the oddity of the boy in front of him.

Zayn glared up at the guy laughing down at him. If he weren’t worried about his wellbeing, he might comment on the guy’s good looks, but, as it was, he was amazed he’d had the wits about himself to come up with Bastille lyrics, and on key as well.

“Are you seriously going to leave me hanging here?” he countered.

Zayn could see the debate going on in the guy’s head. His fingers were seriously beginning to hurt as he tried to pull himself up again but failed. Zayn squeaked as he slipped even more. That was it, if he survived this, he’d start going to the gym. Zayn watched the guy disappear for a moment before reappearing and grabbing him by the forearms.

Zayn was admiring the guy’s biceps, wondering what gym he went to, when he was pulled through the window and stood up inside the bedroom. As soon as he was settled, he saw the guy dive for the bed. Zayn shrugged, the guy was fit, he could be up for a bit of fun in the- “Woah!” Zayn said, eyeing the large knife the guy was waving at him. Holding his hands up, he attempted to appear as unthreatening as possible, not difficult considering he was half the size of the guy. “I’m not gonna hurt you, could you maybe put that away?”

The guy was glaring at Zayn, looking about as threatening as a teddy bear, except for the sharp edge of the knife that caught the light. “You broke into my flat. How did you manage that anyway?” 

Well, Zayn wasn’t going to tell him that he’d picked his lock, especially since it had taken him way longer than it should have. “I didn’t!” He sighed, dropping his hands slowly, watching the flat resident who was watching him carefully. At that moment, the dog that had ratted him out earlier decided to jump up on his leg looking for attention. Zayn’s fingers itched to scratch behind his ears.

“Down, Loki,” 

Zayn fought a smile. “Loki? A comic fan?” The guy hesitated before nodding. “Sick. Me, too.” Zayn thought about pulling up the sleeve of his jumper to show the guy his _ Zap!  _ tattoo, but didn’t want him to think he was reaching for a weapon.

“That’s all well and good, but I’m just going to go call the police now, yeah?” He started backing towards the door to his room, knife still in front of him.

Zayn tried to stop him, jumping back to avoid the arc of the knife. “No, please don’t.” Zayn tried to come up with something that wouldn’t make him look like a complete arse. He looked the guy up and down, unconsciously licking his lips at the fit of the guy’s shirt stretched across his chest. “Look, I was getting friendly with the bird upstairs when her husband come home. I climbed out the window, not realizing there wasn’t a fire escape.”

The guy’s face was a mask of disbelief and disgust, and Zayn wanted to smack himself for sounding like a complete and utter skirt chaser, which couldn’t be further from the truth. “Really? The ‘bird’ upstairs?” Zayn nodded. “Mrs. Wilson is like a hundred years old and her husband’s been dead for fifteen years. Try again.” Oh, great, so the guy just thought he was either into near-necrophilia or just crazy. “If you’re done lying, I’ll just go get my mobile.” 

Zayn felt all the fight go out of him suddenly. He knew there was no way he was going to convince this guy that he hadn’t been here to steal from him, especially since that was exactly what he’d been trying to do. He sank to the floor, wrapping his arms around his knees and pulling them to his chest. Zayn rested his chin on his knees to look up at him.

Liam took another few steps towards the door, surprised when the boy sank to the floor, curling into himself, making himself appear even younger than he had originally. “Do what you have to do,” he said, his voice utterly defeated. Liam suddenly felt bad for wanted to call the police. He took a step back into the room, watching as the guy looked up, eyes on his knife. “Go on, then. Let’s get this over with.” Liam could hear him trying to be defiant, but he just sounded scared.

“Hang on,” Liam said, wondering if he’d lost his mind as he went back to the kitchen. He was giving the boy the perfect opportunity to escape, but as long as no one got hurt and nothing seemed to be missing, he didn’t think that was the worst thing that could happen. Grabbing his phone, he looked down at the knife in his hand before returning it to the block on the counter. 

He walked slowly back to his room, surprised to see the kid hadn’t moved, except for the hand he was running over Loki’s fur. When Liam entered the room, he yanked his hand away from the dog, looking abashed. Settling down on the floor in front of him, Liam mirrored his position, keeping his phone in his hand. The boy stared at him through long lashes. “So, why were you in my flat?”

“How long until they come to take me away?” he asked instead of answering, jutting his chin out, but his eyes belied his fear. Liam shrugged. 

Zayn wondered what the shrug meant, watching the way the man fiddled with his phone, eyes watching Zayn. The eyes were a soft shade of a brown that reminded Zayn of his mum’s hot chocolate on a cold day, an ache for the comfort of home filled his stomach. He buried his face in his arms, blinking back tears as he hated himself for ending up in this situation.

“I didn’t call them,” he heard the guy say. Zayn lifted his head, blinking unbelievingly. “You’ve had plenty of chances to either try and hurt me or run. You’ve done neither, so I’m assuming you don’t have a weapon.” Zayn shook his head, shrugging one shoulder, knowing the guy was right, but he wasn’t a bad guy, just in a bad place. “Do you want to tell me now the real reason you broke in?”

Zayn sighed. “All-American Comics. Number sixteen,” he said, watching the guy’s eyes widen.

“How did you know I had it?” he asked.

“You bought it from Charlie’s pawn shop,” Zayn responded. 

“I’m sorry you missed out on it, but stealing isn’t right,” the guy said. “There-

“What’s your name?” Zayn interrupted.

“What?”

“Your name.” The guy looked doubtful. “‘M Zayn Malik,” he offered. “I’ll give you my address and you can call the police and tell them everything. Just, if I’m going to tell you everything, it wouldn’t hurt to know your name.”

He nodded, studying Zayn for a moment before holding his hand out. “Liam Payne.”

“No shit?” Zayn asked, shaking his hand, laughing when the guy chuckled. 

“Heard of me?” Liam asked. It should’ve sounded cocky, but instead, he looked a bit uncomfortable as Zayn nodded.

“You were like a big thing and then you walked away,” Zayn said. He remembered the headlines.  _ Payne gives up the Pain! No more Ring for Payne! Oh no, Payno! _ He’d been the best in the boxing ring and then suddenly retired at twenty-five.

“Not talking about it,” Liam said as Zayn opened his mouth again, smiling when Zayn nodded. “So, you found out I bought the comic, and what? Decided to follow me home and steal it?” Zayn hid his face again. “Look, kid.” Zayn looked up to glare at him. “Sorry. Look, Zayn, how old are you anyway? Fifteen?”

“Twenty,” Zayn muttered, feeling embarrassed when Liam looked doubtful. He reached behind himself, digging in his pocket to pull his wallet out. Liam’s body had tensed when he started moving but relaxed when Zayn tossed the wallet at him. Zayn watched Liam pick the wallet up, flipping it open to look at the ID, he glanced between the wallet and Zayn a few times. “S’not fake, mate,” Zayn growled, smiling back when Liam did.

Liam continued to go through the wallet. Zayn opened his mouth to argue but realized he really didn’t have a leg to stand on. After a couple of moments, Liam pulled out the claim ticket for the comic and a stack of bills. “He only gave you a hundred pounds for it?”

“No. He gave my flatmate, well former flatmate, a hundred pounds for it, Must’ve know the tweaker didn’t know what he was selling. Arsehole just wanted fast cash for drugs,” Zayn muttered, the anger coming through his voice as he caught his breath. “When I explained to Charlie, he said he’d give it back to me if I got him a thousand pounds in three weeks time.”

Liam glanced down and counted the cash. “There’s only five hundred here.” He looked at the claim ticket. “Three weeks was up two weeks ago, mate.”

“I know,” Zayn whined. “I got a second and third job to try to get the money. I moved back home with my family. I did everything I could to get the money, except ask my mother for it, but I couldn’t do it. I was busting my back, running on less than three hours of sleep a night, if I was lucky, and I still couldn’t save enough money. 

“I was going to the store yesterday to beg Charlie to work out a deal.” He sighed, rubbing the back of his hand over his wet eyes, feeling like a small child. “I came in just as you were walking out. You held the bloody door for me!”

Liam nodded, now remembering seeing Zayn at the pawn shop; he had turned his head to give the boy a second look. He reached out to touch him, but Zayn flinched away. “When Charlie told me how much you’d paid for it, I knew there was no way you’d let me buy it from you for what I had.”

“So, you followed me home, planning to steal it from me,” Liam said, his voice heavy with sadness. Suddenly, he was feeling like the thief, even if he’d paid an ungodly amount of money for the comic. “I understand it’s valuable, but is it really worth the risk of getting caught and going to jail?”

Zayn’s eyes flashed hard, giving Liam a bit of a scare for the first time since he’d found the boy hanging from his window. “It was my baba’s, my father’s,” Zayn said. “He gave it to me before he died.”

Liam’s brain stopped for a moment, his breath catching in his throat as he watched the boy let one angry tear escape from his hazel eyes. Once he began to function again, Liam shoved the cash and claim ticket back into Zayn’s wallet before handing it to him. Pushing himself to his feet with a bit of a groan, he crossed the room. He felt Zayn’s eyes on him as he opened the wardrobe. Kneeling, Liam popped up the false bottom and fished out the comic. When he turned back around, he saw Zayn’s eyes locked on him. 

Liam extended a hand, pulling Zayn to his feet. When they were standing across from each other, Liam held out the comic. “Take it.” 

Zayn eyed him warily before grabbing it. He opened his wallet, removing the cash and handing it to Liam, who hesitated. “Take it. I’ll find a way to get you the rest.” 

“Zayn, I paid over three thousand pounds for this,” Liam whispered, sounding ashamed of the extravagance. “You have more important things to spend your money on.”

“If you won’t take the money, you have to keep the book.” Zayn bit his lip as he said that, feeling his heartbreak. “It wouldn’t be right.”

Liam’s lips twitched. “You were going to steal it.”

Zayn shrugged one shoulder, his hands still in front of him, one holding the cash and one holding the book. “Someone may have told me it was wrong to steal.” Liam laughed out loud. “Take one or the other, mate.”

Liam sighed but took the cash from Zayn. He counted out half of it. “I’ll take half of this, for now.” Zayn looked confused. “You already said you’re working three jobs and living at home to save money. Do you go to school?”

“On summer hols. Start back up in a few weeks,” Zayn explained, eyes tracing the comic.

“Near here?” Zayn nodded, really not paying attention. “Quit two of your jobs.” Zayn’s head snapped up, his mouth opening, but Liam shook his head, silencing him. “Let’s go into the living room, get a bit more comfortable, and talk a bit. Maybe we can come to a solution that will work for us both and not kill you in the process.”

Zayn followed Liam out of the bedroom. Liam sat in a recliner, gesturing to the sofa. Zayn sat, staring down at the comic, his mind racing with what kind of solution Liam was suggesting. “I won’t have sex with you,” he blurted out.

Liam barked out a laugh, making Zayn’s face burn. “Sorry to hear that, but also not what I was going to suggest.” He leaned over to the coffee table, picking up a binder and handing it to Zayn. Zayn laid the comic next to him on the sofa before taking the binder and opening it. “Do you know what that is?”

“It looks like a business plan. I had to take an intro to business course. Made one of these for an art supply store.” Zayn flipped the pages. “A gym?”

Liam nodded. “I remember what it was like when I first learned to box. The confidence I gained was something I wouldn’t trade. I want to build a place to make that available to others. I’ve talked to some of the guys I used to box with, and they agreed to invest. My old trainer is willing to come work for me.”

“That sounds amazing, but what does it have to do with me?” Zayn asked, flipping through the book. He snorted when his eyes fell on a page of logos. “Payne’s Place?” Liam shrugged. “The name is good, but these logos seriously suck.” Zayn glanced around, grabbing a pencil off the table before turning over the page in the plan, thankful the back was blank. 

Zayn started sketching, focusing on what he was creating, barely registering when Liam had moved to sit next to him on the sofa, leaning in to watch over his shoulder. When Zayn was done, he set the pencil down, glancing over at Liam who was smiling. “This is exactly what I wanted, but no one could get it right!” His eyes were sparkling. “What are you studying at school?”

“Graphic design with a minor in business promotion,” Zayn responded, laughing when Liam’s jaw dropped.

Liam clamped a hand down on Zayn’s shoulder. “I think this is the start of a beautiful friendship.” The two of them leaned back over the book and began making plans for how Zayn would work off the money he owed Liam.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to come talk to me on Twitter or tumblr. I really love meeting new people!


End file.
